Flight from Mustafar
by CheshireCat333
Summary: Obi-Wan's thoughts on the flight away from Mustafar and his concerns for Padme. An Obi-Wan vignette. Disclaimer: All characters & locations belong to George Lucas & Disney.


Flight from Mustafar

Hiking the treacherous path back across the blackened, heated surface; stepping lightly on the remaining precariously balanced trestles, Obi-Wan wiped the few remaining tears and sweat from his overly heated face. He randomly thought it strange how one could be so incredibly hot on the outside while inside him roared the icy blizzards of Hoth. Finally reaching the landing pad, he noticed with some small relief that the exit ramp was still in position, but Padme was no longer lying where Anakin…no... Vader…had dropped her. Threepio confirmed for him that she had been taken inside and begged that they leave this "dreadful place". Dreadful, indeed.

He heeded the urge to check on Padme himself to make certain she was secured properly for take-off. He also had the need just to be with her for a few moments to offer comfort and reassurance. She slowly opened her warm doe-eyes and asked softly of her friend whether her husband was all right. The thunder clouds left his sky blue eyes as they softened. Not being one to lie, he could only gaze at her and run the backs of his fingers gently down her cheek while sending waves of comfort and a soft suggestion of sleep.

Lightly squeezing her shoulder, he turned to make his way down the short hallway to the cockpit. He had begun to feel an urgent nudge from the Force and knew they needed to leave quickly. He did a last flight check for his own peace of mind and set a course away from the planet to the prearranged coordinates sent him by his friend, Bail. Once they had cleared the planet's atmosphere and gravity field, he let Threepio take over the task of piloting the ship.

Settling into the soft leather seat, he leaned his head into his hand. Closing troubled, battle-weary eyes, he was vaguely aware of the after-image of console lights and the golden sheen of his mechanical co-pilot. He listened to the familiar hum as the sleek Nubian vessel raced through the starlines of hyperspace. His fingers trailed downward, curling in a thoughtful stroking of his now ash-dusted ginger beard. Thoughts drifting, he wondered in perplexed sadness how so many things in the galaxy could have shifted into darkness in such a short space of time.

Had it only been a couple of days before when, departing for Utapau and his end-game battle with General GrIevous, he had told his former padawan … his brother … how very proud he was of him? He searched his memory for the subtlest of signs that might have alerted him to his young friend's precarious hold on the Light. It now struck him that the words spoken in parting were those of a final farewell before the remaining ground crumbled under his one-time apprentice, sending him into a freefall to the Dark.

He thought fleetingly of his last few words with Ki-Adi-Mundi and Plo Koon and his final conversation with Mace, whose strength he so often relied on in the early years after Qui-Gon's passing. An ancient order and a whole way of life… gone as if slashed from the galaxy in one swipe of a crimson lightsaber.

"Still your thoughts; think in the here and now" echoed the gentle command in his mind. Strange how this thought still came to him in his Master's resonant voice. He knew the admonition was right, as he still had to get Padme to safety and medical care. Ever the worrier, he was concerned that Padme might go into premature labor due to the stress put on her body by her injuries. He wondered if this would be another weight added to the anchor of his guilt. He had, after all, stowed away on her ship in order to hunt Anakin down. The remembered look of shock and fear in her eyes when she beheld him at the top of the starship's lowered ramp made his heart constrict.

Rising stiffly from his seat in the cockpit, he softly traversed the distance to Padme's side. He was relieved that she still slept, though he noticed a soft sheen of perspiration on her skin and heard the faint moan that escaped her lips as she turned her head. He studied the beautiful face of this passionate, idealistic young woman and understood how Anakin could have blurred the lines and fallen in love with her. Though Obi-Wan's love for her was completely chaste, the love of an admiring friend, even he sometimes fell slightly under her spell.

The thought occurred, however, that he should have seen the depth of this relationship...this attachment...and have done something to help these two young people find some kind of solution. If he was honest with himself, he had known on some deep level that they had crossed a line from which they could not return, especially in light of Anakin's commitment to the Jedi Order. Try as he might, he had never been able to reach Anakin with an understanding of the darker side of such attachments. But, if they had all been less afraid of being honest with one another, perhaps he could have helped in some way. As it was, all the young man had been offered were the same platitudes as always. He knew how fiercely Anakin had loved because he had been on the receiving end of that singular passion himself. Icy fingers ran down his spine at the memory of eyes filled with amber flame and the thought that Vader might hate with that same passion.

Dampening a cloth in the nearby refresher, he came back to Padme's side and gently dabbed the beads of perspiration from her forehead and pale cheeks. He knew in the deepest part of his soul that he would do everything in his power to ensure the safety of this woman and her unborn child. Or, perhaps, children...he had the vague sense of two small force signatures mingled with Padme's life-sign, but he couldn't be certain. The Force was so muddied at present, it was hard to get as clear a picture as he normally would have.

As a tired sigh escaped his lips, he deposited the cloth back in the refresher and once again checked to make sure Padme was safely secured. Satisfied that nothing would jolt her on landing, he made his way back to the cockpit once more and deposited himself in the pilot's seat. With Threepio's assurances that they were still on the heading to Polis Massa, Obi-Wan slipped into a light meditation and tried to center himself once more. He knew he was fighting a sense of shock over everything that had occurred, but he couldn't afford to slip into that numbing cloak at this point. There were still too many things that needed to be worked out to safeguard whatever Light still flickered amidst the dark ripples in the Force.

As the ship finally came out of hyperspace and neared the asteroid base, Obi-Wan made some slight course adjustments for landing and answered the hail from the extremely cautious security forces now guarding the outpost. Leave it to Bail to make sure security was at the highest level. He sent a silent thank you to his steadfast friend. Making sure his descent was as smooth as possible and setting down lightly on the landing pad, Obi-Wan once again left his droid counterpart to handle the final details. He then left the cockpit to look after Padme.

Approaching the sleep couch where Padme was secured, Obi-Wan's concern grew more acute. Her pallor had not lessened during their flight from Mustafar and another tendril of dread slipped into the Jedi Master's heart. He stepped closer to her still form and tried gently to rouse her, but she remained unresponsive. He gently brushed a loose strand of hair from her forehead. At last, lips drawing into a tight line, he gathered her tenderly into his arms and held her securely against his chest. Bail would have the medical center on alert. With resolute steps he carried his precious cargo through the hall and strode down the ship's ramp to greet his fellow fugitives.

 _**FIN**_


End file.
